Editor’s Note: In February 2010, about a year after enter the political scene in a big way,\u00a0Tea Party activists began disseminating a ‘Declaration of Independence.’ Evocative at last in some respects of our July 4, 1776 document, the declaration aims to be a\u00a0means for clarifying their principles and purpose, for establishing their independence from the Republican Party (not to mention Democratic Party and the liberal press), and for making clear that in their estimation big government is the tyrant of a free society. It’s hard to pin down precisely who the authors are, but, according to the American Conservative Daily, prominent Tea Party member Bob MacGuffie said it was crafted by eminent Tea Party movers and shakers during a FreedomWorks gathering.<\/p>\n
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Tea Party Nation Declaration of Independence<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I. As the course of human events winds its way through History, it has found some paths lead to Tyranny and some to Liberty. In seeking a path to Liberty, a great and powerful movement is now rising from every corner of our land. Created by the Will of the American People, it rejects unconstitutional domination by the Government that is supposed to be its servant. This movement has arisen, in large part, because our elected officials have failed us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For much of its history the United States has been a land of prosperity and liberty, sound policies such as fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and a belief in the free market have safeguarded this condition. In recent years however, Congress, the President, the Federal Reserve Board and the Courts have replaced those practices with profligate government spending and expansion of the government power beyond what is constitutionally permissible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This course, if not reversed, can only lead to economic collapse and tyranny.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Therefore, Individuals acting through the Tea Party Movement, seek to restore the policies, which are proven to safeguard liberty and prosperity for all. We will organize, demonstrate and vote until this restoration has been achieved. We will stay focused on this goal and remain INDEPENDENT from any persons or political parties who seek to distract us from this end.<\/span><\/p>\n Many seek to define this Movement, to use it, to lead it, to co-opt it, to channel it, to control it, to defeat it. WE WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>The Tea Party Movement is in agreement with our Founders that the government that governs least governs best. We believe that Capitalism \u2013 NOT GOVERNMENT – is essential to the creation of wealth and a vastly reduced government provides the foundation for a thriving Capitalist system.<\/p>\n The Tea Party Movement of America embraces and serves people of all races, creeds,\u00a0religions, and political affiliations, and we declare ourselves to be independent of all those forces that seek to manipulate our actions or control our destiny. \u00a0ME: SO THEY CLAIM TO BE THE 99 PERCENT\u2019S REPRESENTATIVE!!<\/span><\/p>\n II. We Declare ourselves INDEPENDENT of the Democrat Party and its power drunk\u00a0<\/span>junta in Washington DC, which is currently seeking to impose a Socialist agenda on our\u00a0Republic.<\/p>\n We reject arrogant Left-wing politicians who furtively hide from public scrutiny, as they\u00a0<\/span>cut corrupt deals loaded with earmarks and pork in order to produce 2000 page pieces of legislation so purposely incomprehensible, they do not even bother to read them before foisting them upon us.<\/p>\n We reject the endless creation of myriad federal government agencies that drown free\u00a0<\/span>enterprise and local control in the swarms of education, energy, ecology, and commerce\u00a0bureaucrats who style themselves \u201cczars\u201d sent to harass us. We reject the creation of\u00a0federal government regulations and agencies which demand the States pay for unfunded\u00a0Federal mandates.<\/p>\n We reject a Democrat Party which refuses to give credence to our demands for just\u00a0<\/span>redress of grievances and which insults and seeks to demonize our legal right to\u00a0peacefully protest the unjust laws it inflicts upon us.<\/p>\n We reject a profligate Government that is spending TRILLIONS of dollars on worthless\u00a0<\/span>socialist schemes designed to bankrupt us and put the American people in a position of\u00a0dependence on the State, as peasants begging for their very sustenance from self-styled\u00a0\u201ceducated classes\u201d and so-called \u201cexperts\u201d.<\/p>\n We reject a foreign policy which bows and scrapes and apologizes before the world for\u00a0<\/span>America.<\/p>\n We reject an Attorney General of the United States who offers succor and rights to\u00a0<\/span>vicious terrorist murderers and seeks to protect them with a mock civilian trial when such\u00a0enemy combatants, captured on the field of battle, should be tried in secure military\u00a0courts.<\/p>\n We reject the claims of an un-elected Federal Judiciary to violate the separation of\u00a0<\/span>powers by demanding its decisions be enforced by the other coequal branches of\u00a0government, regardless of how unconstitutional the other branches of government may\u00a0think those decisions are.<\/p>\n We reject all acts that ignore or diminish the 2nd and 10th Amendments to the US\u00a0<\/span>Constitution and we seek to have all powers not delegated to the United States by the\u00a0Constitution to be reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.<\/p>\n III. We Declare ourselves INDEPENDENT of the Republican Party, which has in the\u00a0<\/span>past manipulated its Conservative Base to win election after election and which then\u00a0betrays everything that Base fought for and believed.<\/p>\n We reject the idea that the electoral goals of the Republican Party are identical to the\u00a0<\/span>goals of the Tea Party Movement or that this Movement is an adjunct to the Republican\u00a0Party.<\/p>\n We reject the Republican Party professionals who now seek to use the Tea Party\u00a0<\/span>Movement for their corrupt and narrow political purposes.\u00a0 We acknowledge that standing on our principles does not mean throwing out our common sense; we will NOT abandon our principles in the name of a nonexistent bipartisanship or a misguided devotion to an illusion of \u201cpragmatism\u201d, which disguises a desire to betray us in its name.<\/p>\n We reject the scare tactics of the Republican Party, which seeks to herd us into voting for\u00a0<\/span>candidates who supposedly represent the \u201clesser of two evils\u201d in the name of fealty to the\u00a0principle of small government and then having to suffer such candidates as they betray\u00a0that principle.\u00a0 We are not well served by parasites whose livelihoods depend on the very\u00a0State whose power to reward or sanction we elected them to limit and proscribe.<\/p>\n We insist that the Tea Party Movement does NOT consider the election of Republicans in\u00a0<\/span>and of itself to be necessarily beneficial to our goals.<\/p>\n We demand the Republican Party understand that we reject its attempts to co-opt us.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n WE WILL WORK AGAINST THEM when they oppose our views by trying to force\u00a0<\/span>Republicans In Name Only (RINO) on us. When Republicans are in accord with their\u00a0Conservative Base as well as the Independent voters who align with it, IT WINS; when\u00a0they are NOT in accord with the Conservative Base and the Independent voters who align\u00a0with it, IT LOSES.<\/p>\n We reject RINO money; we reject RINO \u201cadvice\u201d; we reject RINO \u201cprofessional experience\u201d; we reject RINO \u201cprogressivism\u201d; we reject RINO support of Big Government; we reject RINO back room deal making; we reject RINO pork spending; we reject false RINO professions of Conservative views and we reject the RINO\u2019s statist subversion of the principles of small government for which the Republican Party is supposed to stand.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Republican Party attempts to ignore the will of the Base, as it did in 1976, 1992, 1996,\u00a0<\/span>2006 and 2008, resulted in disaster; when it embraces the will of the Base, as it did in\u00a01980, 1984 and 1994, it wins historic victories.<\/p>\n We demand the Republican Party recognize that while the Tea Party Movement cannot\u00a0<\/span>guarantee their aid will help them win elections, it is very likely WE CAN MAKE THEM\u00a0LOSE if they are disdainful of our goals.<\/p>\n IV. We Declare ourselves INDEPENDENT of the Media, which has proved itself to be\u00a0<\/span>anything BUT a fair and balanced enterprise and which focuses more on entertainment,\u00a0fear mongering and shock value than investigation and unbiased fact.<\/p>\n We reject the fiction that an unbiased media still exists; there is friendly media and there\u00a0<\/span>is unfriendly ENE-media. The Tea Party Movement refuses to give false credence to the\u00a0self-aggrandizing, self-deluding lie that ANY PART of the Fourth Estate is free of the\u00a0self-serving agendas of those who own them. V.We Declare ourselves INDEPENDENT of self-styled \u201cleaders\u201d who claim to speak for the Tea Party Movement. This movement is not a brand name to be used to sell product; nor is it a logo to be used to justify profiting off its name.<\/p>\n We reject those who seek to personally capitalize on our popularity and momentum by\u00a0<\/span>trying to associate with our cause.<\/p>\n We reject the idea that the Tea Party Movement is \u201cled\u201d by anyone other than the\u00a0<\/span>millions of average citizens who make it up. The Tea Party Movement understands that\u00a0as a Free People, we need to SAVE OURSELVES, BY OURSELVES, FOR\u00a0OURSELVES.<\/p>\n The Tea Party Movement is not \u201cled.\u201d The Tea Party Movement LEADS.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n VI. We are united in our common belief in Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally l<\/span>imited Government and Free Markets. This threefold purpose is the source of our unity\u00a0in the Tea Party Movement.<\/p>\n We reject the idea that the Tea Party Movement must all be unanimous in our specific\u00a0<\/span>policy views in order to win.\u00a0 We recognize that the current situation requires we come\u00a0together in confederation to achieve the MANY MUTUAL GOALS we all seek to\u00a0accomplish.<\/p>\n We recognize that the current situation requires that we concentrate on the many things\u00a0<\/span>we have in common rather than those few things about which we may disagree.<\/p>\n We are the Tea Party Movement of America and we believe in American Exceptionalism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We believe that American Exceptionalism is found in its devotion to the cause of Liberty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We believe that Liberty is based in rational self-interest, in freedom of thought, in free\u00a0<\/span>markets, free association, free speech, a free press and the ability granted us under the\u00a0Constitution TO DIRECT OUR OWN AFFAIRS FREE OF THE DICTATES OF AN\u00a0EVER EXPANDING FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WHICH IS AS VORACIOUS IN\u00a0ITS DESIRE FOR POWER AS IT IS INCOMPETENT AND DANGEROUS IN ITS\u00a0EXERCISE.<\/p>\n We believe that either fate or history has chosen this Country to be a beacon of freedom\u00a0<\/span>and prosperity to the whole world because of America\u2019s belief in and vigorous defense of\u00a0political and economic Liberty. The United States has been the instrument of Liberty\u00a0against the many tyrannies that have threatened the people of this world. The Tea Party Movement rejects the idea that America has to apologize to a far guiltier world that has been largely unappreciative of the sacrifices made on their behalf by the brave and noble members of our Armed Forces, whose sacrifice and patriotic service in\u00a0our defense makes all else possible.<\/p>\n The Tea Party Movement rejects the imposition of \u201ctransformational change\u201d performed\u00a0<\/span>on our Nation by smug elites who call themselves the \u201ceducated class\u201d.<\/p>\n The Tea Party Movement understands that our Nation is NOT the same thing as our\u00a0<\/span>government and that America is much more than simply a militarily and economically\u00a0powerful State.<\/p>\n The Tea Party Movement sees America as something exceptional, as something unique,\u00a0<\/span>as something that came into existence to fulfill the hope of all previous generations that\u00a0longed for freedom.<\/p>\n It came into existence because it is more than simply a country with land and population\u00a0<\/span>and riches and armaments. America came into existence because LIBERTY is an eternal\u00a0concept in the mind of both God AND Man.<\/p>\n The United States of America came into existence because Mankind needs freedom the\u00a0<\/span>same way it needs food and air and property and security and love.<\/p>\n And what is freedom other than the RIGHT to be free of the tyranny of Government and\u00a0<\/span>the elitist, self-styled aristocrats who seek to run it at our expense and to our detriment?<\/p>\n The Tea Party Movement will fight this danger to our Liberty as long as its members\u00a0<\/span>have breath in their bodies.<\/p>\n When America didn\u2019t exist men and women were compelled to invent it, BECAUSE\u00a0<\/span>MANKIND CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT FREEDOM AND STILL BE FULLY\u00a0HUMAN.<\/p>\n